OUR CLASSES
Find the right dance class for you
welcoming & supportive
range of styles & levels
just for adults
OUR CLASSES
Find the right dance class for you
welcoming & supportive
range of styles & levels
just for adults
Our promise
When you come to dance at Move Through Life we promise:
you’ll feel welcome and supported
you’ll receive high quality dance training to help you grow in skill, confidence, and artistry
to accept and encourage dancers of all ages, shapes, sizes, and colours
to do our best to ensure you have a good time (yes, laughing is encouraged)
to value your individuality
Timetable
Term 4 2021
| Day | Location | Time | Style & Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Seacliff | 6pm | Ballet Mature L2 |
| 7pm | Ballet L3 | ||
| Wednesday | Seacliff | 10am | Jazz Mature L3 |
| Jazz Mature L2 | |||
| Clovelly Park | 6pm | Jazz Mature L2 | |
| 7pm | Company rehearsal | ||
| Thursday | Glengowrie | 5pm | Tap Mature L2 |
| 6pm | Contemporary L3 | ||
| 7pm | Jazz L3 | ||
| Friday | Glengowrie | 9.30am | Ballet L3 |
| Ballet L2 | |||
| 10.30am | Jazz Mature L3 | ||
| Jazz Mature L2 | |||
| 12pm | Mature Company Rehearsal | ||
| Saturday | Glengowrie | 12.15pm | Ballet L2 |
| Tap L1.2 | |||
| 1.15pm | Ballet L3 | ||
| Tap L1.4 | |||
| 2.15pm | Pointe | ||
| Jazz L1.2 | |||
| 3.15pm | Ballet L4 |
When you can start
Terms
Our classes are run over a 48 week teaching year from mid January to mid December.
The 48 weeks are divided into four 12-week terms that run back-to-back without a break.
Intake of new students
New students are welcome to join within the first three weeks of each term.
Each term, the teacher will be teaching new work to the class, which is why we take new students only at the beginning of term. It can be a frustrating experience to join a class in the final weeks of term where everyone else knows the work and you don’t.
New terms start in January, April, July, and September.
Intake of new students
If you’d like to be notified when our next intake opens, sign up to our mailing list. We send a newsletter every six weeks – mid term and end of term.
Dance Styles
Ballet
Build strength, grace, flexibility, discipline and confidence, while at the same time learning artistry, expression, musicality and developing appreciation for a classical art form.
Contemporary
Build a strong and supple physique and to develop a strong awareness of where your body is in space (kinaesthetic awareness)
Jazz
Develop a strong, agile body, sense of rhythm and learn to move with style.
Age range
We have two streams of classes related to age – regular and mature.
For some people, dancing with people their own age is important, as they feel more comfortable (dancing with younger people can be intimidating at times). But for others, age is not an issue, or they enjoy interacting with people of different ages.
We don’t have hard and fast rules around age. Someone under 50 is welcome to join a mature class if that’s more suitable for them. Someone over 50 may find that a regular class is more suitable for them.
Mature
We created our mature stream because most of the people attending our classes were under 40 years of age. We wanted to make sure that we offer something to adults of all ages. Introducing the mature stream has given a lot of people aged over 50 more confidence about starting a dance class.
The Mature classes are a bit more gentle. This doesn’t mean you won’t get a work out. It means there is less likely to be movements that can be more strenuous for older bodies, such as jumping, floor work, demi-pointe work, and turns.
Regular
All ages are welcome in our regular classes. Generally, people aged from early 20s to late 40s tend to choose the regular classes.
These classes are more fast paced, and do include jumps, turns, floor work, demi pointe work etc.
Dancers aged over 50 who have had a lot of previous dance experience or who are very fit tend to enjoy the regular classes.
Levels and progression
It can be challenging to find a dance class as an adult that is just at the right level. Too often, adults of various levels of experience are all put together in the same class which tries to ‘be suitable for all levels’. In reality, this can be a frustrating experience for beginners, who feel left behind, and more advanced dancers, who don’t get to really stretch themselves.
Syllabus
At Move Through Life, we have classes at a range of levels from absolute beginner to advanced
We use our own especially designed syllabus for each dance style to ensure that class is suitable for adults, and offers the opportunity for development and advancement for those who wish to do so.
Levels
Our classes are classified as either beginner, intermediate or advanced, and within these three broad categories are several sub-levels.
Visit the Finding the right level page to learn more about our levels, and experience recommended for each level)
Progression
Group progression
We recognise that for adults, there may be only one time that they can get an hour to themselves for a dance class. For this reason, progression is built into each class, so the class all progress together. For example, a level 1 class in Term 1 would become a level 2.1 class in Term 2.
Individual progression
However, we recognise that people will progress at different rates, and so you can consult with your teacher about how to progress at your own pace, which will usually mean shifting to another class.
Assessment and exams
Many people want to undertake some kind of assessment so they can get feedback on their progress, have something to work towards, or to have a certificate to make their progress more official. We do offer the opportunity for assessment, both informal and in an exam format.
Teachers
Most classes are taught by Jo McDonald, the founder of Move Through Life.
You can view a full list of teachers and read their stories on the People page of our website
Jo is a welcoming and supportive teacher who loves to play a role in the joy that people experience when they dance. Having danced since the age of three, Jo did have a break from dance in her early twenties, and her subsequent return to dance gave her a keen appreciation for how difficult it can be for adults to find dance classes that suit them. As a result, she has dedicated her work to giving adults the opportunity to dance, whether that is taking class or performing. She is an advocate for the concept that if you dance, you have a dancer’s body, and that you are never to old to start, return to, or continue dancing.
Her classes are designed to be relaxed and fun, but to help dancers build their fitness, strength, and flexibility, and to continue to develop their skills and increase their repertoire of movement. She has developed her own ballet, jazz, and contemporary syllabi designed especially for adults, so that her dancers have the chance to continually develop and improve.
She has trained in RAD (Royal Academy of Dancing) and ISTD (International Society for Teachers of Dance) in ballet and modern theatre dance (which includes jazz and contemporary). She holds a Graduate Diploma of Creative Industries (Dance Teaching) from Queensland University of Technology, as well as a Bachelor of Science and Honours Psychology from the University of Adelaide, and a Certificate IV in Commercial Music (Performance).
As founder and Artistic Director of Move Through Life, Jo has extensive experience of teaching, choreographing, and producing dance.